I Just Need A Couple of Ads

 Here is a short scenario for you, perhaps it sounds familiar:

Client: "I'd like to market my business can you help me with that?"

Me: "Great, let's talk about your challenges and goals and see if I can help."

Client: "What I need are radio ads and maybe something in the newspaper."

Me:  "Okay, you're interested in advertising which should be a part of your marketing. Let's discuss your goals and see if radio and newspaper will help you with those."

Client: "Don't I just need to let people know about me? I really think I just need some ads."

I understand where my clients are coming from and why they are confused. For most small business advertising and marketing are the same thing. When business slows down you're suppose to put some ads out so people will come into the store, right?

But advertising is only one component of marketing. Advertising is what you do to promote your business, to make your target market aware of you, or to communicate a message to your potential clients. Marketing is everything that touches your customers. Everything.

"My accounts receivable person sends out invoices to customers isn't that touching my customers? Surely that isn't marketing."

Actually it is. So is your packaging, store front, web site, customer service, advertising, press releases, Facebook page, email blasts, logo, receptionist and anything else that comes in contact with your customers or potential customers. That's a lot!
Which is why it is so important to have a clear, consistent and detailed marketing plan. You can't very well have advertisements that say you are the people friendly tech company only to have your technicians scowl at customers who drop off their computers.

Yes, marketing can help you with your business goals and advertising may be a piece of the overall marketing plan. But advertising without a marketing plan will not lead to success.

Why it's okay to outsource social media

Marketing trends reveal themselves fairly quickly if you read more than 3 to 4 marketing related e-newsletters a day. The trend I've seen lately, that I find surprising, is the advice to keep social media in-house.

As social media has matured we've learned it is a marketing tool and belongs in the marketing department. Some companies have tried to have their in-house marketing departments develop daily content, respond to customers and be the easy to talk to voice of the company. The problem has been there isn't always a person in the department who can write both casually and professionally. It also requires a significant time investment and the learning of new tools. In response, companies have begun to hire social media professionals to assist them.

Outsourcing in marketing is nothing new. We do it all the time with designers, copy writers and research companies. We are comfortable relying on experts to help us best deliver our message. So why balk at outsourcing social media? It's being written that outsourcers aren't capable of producing content that fits your marketing brand, speaks to your customers as you would or that it comes across sounding like an ad. They don't understand your passion point so how can they convey it to your customers?

Bollocks I say.

If we can clearly communicate our brand to copy writers, designers, heck to our own customers, then we can communicate it to social media professionals. Why would you not hire a professional that can bring more value to your company? They will offer advice on setting up social media campaigns to meet your goals and then track the effectiveness of the campaigns. They are experts at generating content, identifying communities, putting a personal face on your company, listening to your customer base and letting you know what's being said.

Social media marketing requires a special skill set we may not have in our own marketing department. We may simply not even have the time. I see no reason why social media marketing can't be outsourced just like any other marketing activity. Take the time to find the right social media professional to meet your companies needs, whether it be in-house or out.

Social media

Social media. It's the name of the game currently and everyone is trying to figure out the angles. In truth it's a tool. When you market your small business you use a variety of tools. The excitement over the latest tool, social media, is that it allows you to have immediate and direct contact to your customers. It has the advantage of allowing two way communication between you and your customers. That's the angle.

If you are using social media to broadcast your marketing message you're missing the point. Stop telling your customers what you offer, why you're the best and why they need to shop with you. Instead start conversations, listen to responses and then respond. You'll learn more about your customer base, what interests them, why they do business with you, who matters in their world and how they interact with others. All of this information allows you to create a closer connection with your customers. If you're sincere, honest and if you listen and respond you'll become part of your customers' group, their community.

But you must be willing to take the time to engage. If you don't respond to posts, questions or complaints and don't post questions or conversation engaging posts then you are wasting your time on social media. If you use it like a broadcast email you're missing the angle. You may even be alienating your customer base who understand that social media is meant to be...well social.

Here's a profile www.facebook.com/#!/SecretsStJames I've been following for awhile on Facebook. I hope to take an island vacation some day and thought I'd follow this resort to see what I could expect. They aren't perfect, but they do try to respond to posts. They post pictures, ask questions and post about events at the resort. They've encouraged open communication from visitors and potential visitors. They are working the social media angle.

There is still discussion on how effective social media is at driving sales, but if you want to be part of your customers' community social media is an excellent start. Just work the angle.

A Pleasant Surprise - Raising a Confident Daughter

I’ve recently rekindled my love affair with fitness. I was ready to start making fitness part of my daily routine, but worried that my hour an evening working out would be taking time away from my 11 year old daughter.

Even so, I couldn’t let worries keep me from bettering myself. I needed to be strong and healthy.  So the evening workouts began. While my husband and I worked out our daughter played or read, but always near-by. I noticed that she would “peek in” on us and once found her reading my Oxygen magazine. Next came her questions:

“Mom, can I try your yoga work out?”

“Sure!”

Followed by,

“Can I do your warm up with you?”

“You bet!”

And then last week she asked if she could try our chest and back routine.
“Wow! Really? Ok!”

I was excited at her interest in fitness and her desire to work-out. She didn’t see it as time spent away from her as I had worried. That’s not to say we don’t have our ups and downs. She does get annoyed that mom can do more push- ups, but she’s also delighted that she’s the only one in the family that can do reclining bound angle pose. It’s my hope that the lessons she’s learning in fitness will carry over to other aspects in her life.

1.       Do what you can and don’t worry what everyone else is doing.
2.       Even when you think you can’t do anymore try to do one more- you may surprise yourself.
3.       Change happens a lot slower than we would like.
4.       A positive attitude allows you to achieve much more than a negative one.
5.       Being good to yourself allows you to be good to others.

As moms and maybe even as humans we often resist doing things in life because we worry about how it will affect others. But what a pleasant surprise, by doing something for myself, by being good to myself I’ve given something good to my daughter.

It's from who?

Do you e-mail your customers? I'm guessing you do, at least occasionally. I know you take the time to create interesting content, add links to your web site, perhaps even include an engaging photo. That is important and you should be doing it, but have you considered your subject line and your from line?

Imagine your customer sitting at their computer scanning their in box. They come across an email and they don't recognize the name in the from line and the subject line is non-specific. They're thinking, spam or they may be worried it contains a virus especially if you added an attachment.

After you've created your email sit back and think of a four to eight word summary for the content. Yes, it should be appealing but it should also be clear. If you send a weekly email consider having a name for it to create consistency. The from line is also important. It is fine to have your name as the from, but somewhere either in the from or the subject line, you should list your business name.

Here are a few examples of good from and subject lines. I opened all these emails.
From: Manhattan 24/7
Subject: St. Patrick's Day Celebration in Manhattan

From: Lisa-Marie at Emily Rose
Subject: Pick of the Week - Purple Passion (these arrive weekly and the subject line always begins "Pick of the Week" and is followed by a description.)

From: Michael Katz | Blue Penguin E-Newsletter
Subject: Publish or Perish

All three of these examples tell me who the email is from and give me an idea of the content in three different ways.

You spend a lot of time creating your emails, make sure they have a chance for success. Let your customers know up front the email is from you and what's in it for them.